RECAP: American Idol’s Top 10 Are Revealed And Perform

Last night, Harry Connick Jr, Jennifer Lopez, and Keith Urban gave La’Porsha Ranae, Dalton Rapattoni, Olivia Rox, and Trent Harmon fast passes to the Top 10. The remaining six were voted on by us, and unfortunately we say goodbye to Jeneve Rose Mitchell, Thomas Stringfellow, Manny Torres, and Jenn Blosil. While I’m not entirely surprised, I’m disappointed that Jenn didn’t make it further. I’m going to miss her squeaky voice and quirkiness.

On a happier note, a very pregnant Kelly Clarkson lent her voice as a fourth judge this week. She also sang her heart wrenching new song “Piece By Piece,” which had everyone in tears. In case you missed it, do yourself a favor and watch it:

Perhaps Kelly’s presence ignited some sort of fire under these contestants asses. Maybe they’re finally getting better options for song choice, considering this week’s theme is songs that have been released since Idol started. Yep, contestants can pick whatever song that has been released in the past 14 years. Whatever the reason, the Idol hopefuls are finally getting exciting… mostly. Here’s our ranking of the performances, from worst to best:

Poor Tristan McIntosh. She tried to tackle “Nothin’ Like You,” by Dan + Shay. Tristan was trying to keep up with the lyrics and catch her breath throughout the entire song. She never nailed the bit notes, and just got overshadowed by the band. The judges tell her to pick songs that are more suited for her fifteen year old self, which I think was a nice way of saying don’t pick such ambitious songs.

On a very similar note… How did Gianna Isabella make it this far? How is she performing over Jenn Blosil? She gave Beyonce’s “Listen,” a show, and failed miserably. There were problems everywhere with her intonation. I’m not sure she hit a single note all the way. There wasn’t a single original, creative moment in the song or performance. All bad. Nothing good. That’s it.

Avalon Young seemed to rush through “Stitches.” She seemed nervous throughout the song, and even let out a sigh of relief when she finished. I’ve never really been a fan of her voice, and it seemed that the nasal quality was amped up to the extreme tonight.

Lee Jean brought out his guitar for Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.” He sped up the song and made it a bit more folky, which was a nice approach. He tried hitting a falsetto towards the end which didn’t quite work. Kelly said it best when she noted he was competing against some strong vocalists. In harsher terms, he just doesn’t have what it takes to make it much further. He’s good a what he does, his voice is easy to listen to, but is he the American Idol? I don’t think so.

Olivia Rox started off with a beautiful toned done rendition of Katy Perry’s “Unconditionally,” and she should have stayed there. It was soft and pretty, and again, showcased a different side of Olivia’s voice. But as soon as the song picked up speed, she lost it. She hit the notes, sure, but her on stage presence doesn’t have any power. Keith advised her to keep loosening up.

Trent Harmon started out the competition as a front runner, and while he’s still better than a good majority of the contestants, I really hope he doesn’t start crashing and burning. His choice of Sam Smith’s “Like I Can,” showed the flaws in his voice more than that unique quality about it. His vibrato was lacking, and his falsetto wasn’t as strong as normal. Can someone please tell him to stop pulling faces, too?

Just by the amount of screams as soon as Ryan Seacrest said Dalton Rapattoni‘s name, it’s easy to assume he’s safe for a while. With that being said, this was my least favorite performance by Dalton. He sped up and punk-ified “Hey There Deliah,” and it didn’t work. I give him credit for changing up the song, but the intention behind the song was completely lost. He was just a confident rocker dude running around on stage. But, he was on pitch, so that’s a plus. The judges all loved it, though, and the screams from the crowd indicate they did, too.

Is it bad if I mention how adorable it is that MacKenzie Bourg‘s favorite Idol moment is William Hung singing “She Bangs?” MacKenzie takes on Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire,” and I’m hoping that this is the very last Ed song we hear on the show. And I love Ed Sheeran, but come on. I don’t think MacKenzie’s voice could ever possibly sound bad (even when he struggled with those higher notes), so that definitely wasn’t the problem here. The problem was lack of originality, which I never thought I would say about him. He does the singer songwriter on a guitar thing so well, but this song choice was so obvious. He needs to start surprising us with his choices.

Who took over Sonika Vaid‘s body and brought out this confident woman on stage? Perhaps since she went on after La’Porsha she kicked up a few gears, but her rendition of Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” was powerful. It was dramatic, it was fiery, and she sounded as amazing as she always does. Sure, she probably could have still brought it up a bit, but just as Jennifer noted, if she wakes up in this competition, it’s going to be a COMPETITION.

So La’Porsha Ranae is winning this competition right? I mean, even Kelly said it tonight. La’Porsha completely transformed Rihanna’s “Diamond,” with her effortless voice and runs. She looked and sounded like a star on that stage. I’m not even sure what else to add. She was perfect and controlled. She got a dramatically long, very well deserved, standing ovation.

Next week, eight will continue on. So who will go home? My money is on Tristan and Gianna.